


Don’t Make Sophie Cry Again—The Day After Nate Came Back Job

by crayonbreakygal



Series: The After Nate Left Jobs [5]
Category: Leverage
Genre: Drama, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-25
Updated: 2016-06-25
Packaged: 2018-07-18 05:47:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7301896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crayonbreakygal/pseuds/crayonbreakygal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Each teammate told him not to make Sophie cry again or there would be consequences.  Takes place at the beginning of season three.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don’t Make Sophie Cry Again—The Day After Nate Came Back Job

**Author's Note:**

> Nate's take on how angry each of them would be at him when he came back after prison. Linking this with my series The Day After Nate Left Job.

Takes place near the beginning of season three.

Don’t Make Sophie Cry Again—The Day After Nate Came Back Job

“You’re up?”

“I’m up.”

“Prison hours?”

“Unfortunately, yes.”

Nate rubbed his head, wondering when Eliot would blast him for what he did.  The drill incident in prison kind of made him wary of the hitter.  It had been the first contact that they’d had with each other since the boat and since Sophie had taken point on visiting him and ultimately the plan to break him out.  Sure, he was the one who thought of the prison break, but she was the one to implement it.

“Food?”

“Not yet.”

Nursing a bit of a hangover, Nate sat at the dining table, looking around at his apartment.  Yes, it was still his apartment, but since he paid rent to Hardison, it was difficult to tell the young man that there should be boundaries.  He’d tried with little success.

“Sooner you eat, the better,” Eliot announced from the kitchen.

He’d been used to a strict schedule, from the time to get up, the time to eat, the time to exercise, and the time to sleep.  Almost six months of a strict regimen.  He just wanted his freedom now, but his team was having none of that.  He hadn’t had a moment that one of them wasn’t hovering.

When he was in prison, it wasn’t so bad though.  He’d been able to avoid the most violent criminal element, and since those were few and far between where they’d placed him, it was fairly easy.  He somehow had developed a reputation as one to avoid at all costs.  Maybe he had Eliot to thank for that.  It saved his skin where he didn’t have to look over his shoulder every day, every hour.

He read, kept to himself mostly, and endured, working his hours in the prison kitchen until it was time to fall asleep.  His sleep was mostly filled with nightmares of his team dying, but he’d not tell them that.  That bullet could have hit any one of them, particularly Eliot, who had closed the other door of the engine room with Hardison.

Eliot placed a plate down in front of Nate, not looking all that thrilled at the prospect of actually eating with Nate.  Why did he come in so early if he knew that there was a slight chance the mastermind would be awake?  They all had a place to live.  He’d actually checked that out once when he realized that they spent most of their time at his place. 

Grabbing a plate for himself, Eliot ate across from him, periodically looking up at him as he downed his food.  Eliot was even efficient when he ate. For one who proved to be a gourmet cook, he certainly didn’t look thrilled to be eating what he had just made.

“We need to have a conversation.”

And there it was.  The coming in early had been Eliot’s way of saying he needed to talk to Nate, alone.  Only Parker would show up early.  Hardison kept strange hours and Sophie didn’t like getting up before ten unless absolutely necessary.

“I thought the drill did the talking.”

“Funny.”

“You made your point.”

“Apparently not.”

Nate sighed, running his hands through his hair.  He just didn’t need Eliot’s wrath on top of Sophie’s.  He was just waiting for that conversation to take place.  She’d already told him that she wasn’t babysitting him anymore, which he certainly understood.

“You made my job ten times harder.  I take that personally.  I asked you if you could pull it off.  You lied to me.”

“Lie is a harsh word to use.”

“Sophie saved your ass, Nate.  Admit it.  If she hadn’t appeared when she did, you’d be at the bottom of the ocean.  Me with you.”

“I thought,” Nate started, stopping when he saw Eliot’s fist forming on the table.

“You didn’t think.  Remember what Parker said.  We came back because we thought we could do some good.  We needed the Nate Ford that started this.”

“What?  The drunk off his ass, rude jerk who thought he was an honest man?  You wanted that back?  It was a ruse, Eliot.”

Eliot stood, grabbing the plates as he did. “Dammit, Nate.  You just don’t get it.”

Throwing the plates, they crashed against the cabinets of the kitchen, shattering into pieces.  Eliot’s violence was always contained around the team.  He controlled himself because that’s what he needed to do to get the job done.  He was slowly losing that patience with Nate.  Nate wondered if he’d stepped over some imaginary boundary that the hitter had set up.

“I can’t protect the team and you from these kinds of guys. And now you go and take a job where it’s going to be next to impossible to do my job?”

“Then leave.”

“I just might.  You go off the rails again, I just might do that.  You almost got yourself killed.”

Nate stood, anger rising.  His gut was twisted in knots, realizing that what Eliot said was true.  He did risk too much on taking down the people responsible for hurting Bonanno.  They were in over their heads.  And now he was doing it again.  It wasn’t like he had much choice though.  He wasn’t ever going to sacrifice his team for anything.

“And I take full responsibility for what I did.  Hell, I went to prison for it.  Not you, not Parker or Hardison.  Definitely not Sophie.  Me.”

“You took my job away from me.  It’s my job, my responsibility.”

Oh, so that’s what the problem was.  Nate took the job of guard dog away from Eliot and now he was pissed.  What the hitter didn’t understand was the ultimate responsibility would always fall onto Nate, not Eliot.  Never. 

“Sterling was not going to back down. I’ve worked with him for years.  I know what he’s like.  He would have put you all in jail without looking back.  There was no other choice.”

“You lied to us.  There had to be another way.”

“In the end, the responsibility lies with me and me only.  It was my plan.  Mine,” Nate shouted to him, hoping he realized the depth of his reasoning. “When I formed this group, I knew that one day it might all fall apart.  I knew that. I was willing and still am willing to make that sacrifice.”

“I’m supposed to take the bullet,” Eliot told the older man.

“Not this time.”

“You could have died.  It would have ruined us all.  Remember that, when you take these kinds of chances.”

Eliot shook his head and turned away, breathing heavily now.  Nate had no idea that he had that effect on all of them. 

“Thank you for getting them all to safety.  You knew, didn’t you?”

“The way you were standing, the smell. Been there before.  Very distinctive.  Parker almost jumped out of the helicopter.  Hardison didn’t sleep for three days.  Sophie…” Eliot closed his eyes.  “She came back to save you.  Just realize what is right in front of you.  And if you pull something like this again, I’ll kill you myself.”

Nate smirked at that.  Eliot didn’t mean that he would actually kill Nate.  Did he?

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Don’t make Sophie cry, alright?  That’s difficult enough to deal with.”

“Over me?” he asked, astonished that Eliot would tell him this.

“God, I work with idiots.  How about I ask her out, OK?”

“Oh, no, no, no.  You wouldn’t.”

“Six months.  Things happen.”

Nate’s blood boiled for just a bit when he figured out that Eliot was messing with him.  Taking a deep breath, he settled back down again.  Drinking down a large swig of his tainted coffee, he put his head down on the table in defeat.

“Get your act together, Nate.  You don’t want another Jack to come along.”

“Yeah, well, Katherine is dead.  We buried her.”

“Since we know Sophie’s real name...,” Eliot’s voice trailed off.

There they went again.  They all knew her real name, but he didn’t?

“Fuck off, Eliot.  And thanks.”

“You insult me and thank me in the same breath.”

“You kind of illicit that kind of response.”

Eliot grabbed his jacket, putting it on in finality.  His conversation with Nate was complete.  He guessed the younger man had made his point known.  Now all Nate needed to do was not tick him off again in the near future.

“You scared her.  You scared us.  Just don’t do it again.  We’re a team.  Remember that.”

Eliot left as quietly as he had arrived that morning.  Nate turned his mug in his hands as he watched it from his vantage point of his head on the table.

 

“Sleeping at the table again?”

Dammit.  Now he had to talk to Parker.  She had appeared out of nowhere to stand beside the dining table almost right after Eliot had left, slamming the front door shut behind him.

“Nice hat,” Nate grumbled as he saw that Parker had his hat still.

“Yeah.  Fits great.  What are you doing up?”

“Getting blasted by Eliot.”

“Oh.”

Parker traveled around the table like she was stalking him.  It felt really, really uncomfortable, but he didn’t want to tell Parker that.  Who knew what she’d done while he was gone?

“Why are there broken plates all over the kitchen?”

“Eliot.”

“Doesn’t he know that there’s a better way of cleaning them?”

“I’m sure he does,” Nate pointed out, raising his head.

“Oh, he left food.”

Parker getting distracted almost gave Nate time to head for the stairs.

“Running?”

“Probably,” he sighed out.

“It doesn’t work you know.  Sophie found that out.  She was kinda disappointed when she got back.  Don’t make her cry again, OK?”

Conversations with Parker were challenging at best.  With that last statement, she had the look of someone who was deranged.  When they started working with each other there were people that said she was insane.  He never believed it one hundred percent.  Maybe right now he wasn’t so sure?

“Not my intention.”

The second person to mention that Sophie had cried.  Was it over him or the fact that they almost got caught?

As he headed up the stairs to get dressed, Parker stood at the foot of it, looking up at him.

“Your bed is nice and comfy.”

“What?”

“Just wanted you to know.”

“Why would you know that?”

“Just ask Sophie.”

What were they doing when he was away?  Parker was making no sense.  An hour later, after standing under the hot water for what seemed like forever, he came back down the stairs again, hoping he was alone.  Parker sat on the counter, cereal bowl in hand, crunching away. 

“I thought you left.”

“Nope.  You have cereal.”

“And you don’t?”

More coffee was in order, he thought.  Parker handed him a mug as she slowed her eating.

“I understand why you did what you did.  Took me six months, but I understand.  Kinda sucked you know.”

“Parker, I’m not sure I can take another lecture.”

“You didn’t trust us.  That hurt.”

Leaning up against the counter, Nate downed a big gulp so he could gather his thoughts.

“I trusted you.  I trust you.  I didn’t trust Sterling.”

“But you said to not worry about him.  Messed that up, didn’t you?”

“I miscalculated.  It’s fixed.”

“Doubt it.  He’ll be back.”

“I hope not.”

“Then that Italian lady will be back.  Or someone else.  We have to have each other’s backs. That’s what we signed up for.”

Did they sign up to be a team?  He’d told them that they were his family. 

“What I said to you is true, Parker.”

“I know.  I’ve never had someone sacrifice themselves for me before.  It’s just weird.  Don’t do it again.”

“I don’t intend on getting shot again.”

“Great.  Now you jinxed yourself.”

Parker threw a piece of cereal his way, it almost landing in his coffee.

“We good?”

“Just don’t make Sophie cry.”

There it was again.  Sophie never let on that she cried, only that he had pissed her off immensely. 

“Never my intention.  You either.”

“Thanks for the hat.  And the shirt.”

“Shirt?”

What else did she steal from him?  He’d have to check on his emergency cash and whatever else he had lying around the apartment.

“Mr. Bunny still smells like you,” Parker said as she walked out of the kitchen.

“Why would he smell like me?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

He needed a drink.

“We stole you back. Remember that.” Parker called as she disappeared around the corner.

 

Slowly making his way over to his desk, the door opened with Hardison and bags of orange soda.  Just what he needed.  Hardison would lecture him too. 

“Hey,” Hardison called.

“You here to lecture me too?” Nate asked as he flipped through his mail.

“Sophie paid your bills,” Hardison yelled from the kitchen.

“Yeah.  I guess you’d still want the lights on.”

“Takes a lot of effort to break someone out of a prison.  But you wouldn’t know that.”

“I was there.”

Hardison hooked up his laptop and started tapping away.

“I get no facial recognition on her.”

Nate didn’t realize that Hardison had started working, but the younger man was right.  They needed information and quickly on the Italian woman.

“Nothing?”

“I bet it’s all been scrubbed.  There’s nothing at all.  I can’t even get a name.”

“Keep looking.”

“When have I not?” Hardison mumbled under his breath.

They both worked in relative silence for at least an hour before Hardison looked over at his desk.  At least the younger man had left him alone for the most part.

“You almost killed her, you know that?”

“Huh?  Who?”

“Sophie.  Man, it was rough.”

“Again, not my intention. I didn’t even know she’d come back.”

“For you.  She came back for you.”

Hardison turned in his chair, away from his computer, which was running something that looked important.

“Not only for me.”

“You keep thinking that.”

Nate slammed his hands down onto his desk, wanting them all to quit telling him what he’d done to Sophie.  She needed to tell him, personally.  Where was she, he thought?

In his mind, Nate went over and over what had had happened that day.  Something definitely went wrong, from the kidnapping, to Sterling, to Kadjic pointing a gun at his head.  Sophie had played it perfectly, getting him out of there before Kadjic had blown his head off.

“Culpepper tipped him off, didn’t he?”  Hardison started typing again, looking away from Nate.  “You had him restrained?”

“He, yes, he was restrained.  Listen, it’s my fault, OK.”

Hardison put his hands up to the side of his head, like he was attempting to block out what Nate was implying.

“It’s not your fault, Hardison.  I take full responsibility.  Just like I told Eliot.”

Getting up, Nate put his hands in his pockets to make sure that Hardison thought he wasn’t angry.  When he had his hands out, like he did with Eliot, he felt so much angrier.  That was not what he wanted displayed with Hardison. 

“Parker wasn’t answering. The signal was screwed up.  It was just a few minutes.  Culpepper bolted.”

“I wondered why he was on the ship.”

Grabbing the bottle of scotch on the table, he poured a generous portion into his coffee cup.

“Parker tried to kill Tara.”

He almost spilled the liquid down his front.

“And someone was going to tell me this when?”

“Hey, they resolved it.  Tara called Sophie.  Explanation solved it all.”

So Tara was spying on them for Sophie? It wasn’t just the fact that Sophie sent her to help them out.  She was there to spy on them too.  Oh Sophie.  He’d have to have a talk about that with her.

“She set up the meeting with Kadjic for Sophie.  If people wouldn’t lie, we would have been much better off.”

“She called Sophie?”

“Yeah.  Saved your ass too. And you made her cry.  Remember that.”

There it was again.  No one would tell him what happened while he was gone.

 

Much later, after lunch, Sophie breezed in, bag in her hand.  Hardison had disappeared downstairs, probably for some lunch and had not come back. Nate sighed when he realized that he wouldn’t be there to be a buffer between himself and Sophie.

“You’re awake?”

Flipping a file over, Nate sat his pen down slowly.

“Been up since early this morning.”

“Oh, prison hours.”

“Yes, prison hours,” he sighed out.

The cup next to him was empty.  He certainly didn’t want to refill it in front of Sophie.  Looking up finally, he realized that Sophie was staring at him.  Oh great, he thought.  Now she was ready for her tirade.

“Where’s everyone else?”

Her hands were on her hips, her stance wide and a bit menacing.  It didn’t matter that she had on heels and a short skirt.  She made it work for her.  That’s why many people over the globe were frightened of her.  He sort of was at that moment.

“Who knows?  After telling me that they were mad at me for making you cry, they all bolted.”

She then decided to drop her tough persona, making her way over to his desk.  If she wanted a fight, he wasn’t going to give it to her.

“Oh, about that?”

“They probably weren’t supposed to tell me about that, but they all did.  They care about you Sophie.  Much more than they care about me.  So, if you’ll excuse me.”

As he passed by Sophie, she reached for his arm, staying him from going any further.  Her hand was so warm and soft against his skin.

“They cared so much about you, all of them were willing to sacrifice themselves for what you did, Nate.  All of them.  Hardison didn’t sleep for days, watching over you.  Parker had you in and out of that hospital in her mind at least twelve different ways.  Eliot was ready to take Sterling down, not caring if he didn’t survive it.  So don’t tell me that they don’t care about you.”

“Tell me what to do to fix this.”

“Be Nate Ford.”

Her grip on his arm was hurting a bit.  He never realized how strong she was, but he should have.  Strong enough to take him on and bring him around to her way of thinking.

“I can’t be Nate Ford without Sophie Devereaux by my side.”

Her intake of breath said everything.  He told the rest of them that he wouldn’t make her cry again.  Only as he watched the tears form in her eyes again, he desperately wanted to stop them.  Taking her hand in his, he managed to work around to stand next to her, not wanting to spook her into running away from him.

“I can’t promise you that I won’t screw up again.  I can’t promise you anything right now other than I’m here for you, Soph.  Just don’t leave.”

“I’m not going to leave, you bastard.  You can’t take care of yourself.”

She was probably right on that count.  He needed her, in more ways than one.

“As I’ve been told today.”

Wiping her lone tear away, he pulled her into him, wanting to feel her against him.  Her breath shuddered for a moment, then she raised her head to look him dead in the eye.

“Nate?”

“Yeah?”

“I owe you for that slap.”

“Among other things,” he said as he lowered his head to hers.

Kissing her was the first and last thing on his mind.  Now, after that kiss on the boat, it was always on his mind.  And by the way Sophie was kissing him back, it seemed to be on her mind too.  They broke away quickly when the door opened, admitted the younger members of the team.  Sophie trailed her fingers lightly across his, looking up at him, giving him what he wanted.  Did she forgive him?  Possibly.  He’d have to work for it though.

“Hey, did you make her cry again?” Eliot warned.

“We told you,” Parker stated, arms crossed.

“Sophie?” Hardison glared at Nate.

“Oh, it’s fine.  Just fine.  Let’s get started, shall we?”

Nate winked at her and she smiled back. 

“Still want my hat back, Parker,” Nate told the younger woman as they walked to the table to get started.

“What hat?” she questioned, reaching up and not finding the hat.

“There’s no hat,” Hardison added as he picked up his clicker.

“No hat,” Eliot said as he sat down beside Nate.

“Where are my couches?”

“Well, you see, since you didn’t live here anymore,” Hardison wanted Nate to know.

“I still live here.”

“Did you pay me the rent while you were gone?”

“The rest of you were here while I was gone.  I could tell.”

Parker looked over at him, head turned.

“Oh, oh. I get it.”

Nate had no idea what she was talking about.

“Then why did my bed smell like Sophie?”

Eliot, Parker and Hardison all looked at him like he was crazy.

“No idea.”

“Nah.”

“What?”

“Run it, Hardison.”

Sophie smiled again, leaned up against the side of him when the others weren’t looking.  He smelled that unique scent that was all Sophie, with an addition that he couldn’t place.  As Hardison talked, telling them about the latest client, Nate ran through his head where he had last smelled that scent. It was his.  She’d somehow taken something from the upstairs.  Maybe his aftershave, his shampoo, something that belonged to him.  He kind of liked it.


End file.
